Does the skin on the face really need to resist glycation? Is anti-glycation useful for the skin?

The term "anti-sugar" has been quite popular in recent times, so is it really that magical to have anti-sugar skin? Does anti-sugar have any effect on the skin?

Does the skin on your face really need to resist glycation?

The skin needs to resist glycation because high-sugar foods can cause skin aging, darkening, acne, and make the skin more sensitive to sun damage. Human tissue cells all contain proteins and receptors for AGEs. Excessive intake of sugar will cause an increase in insulin, affect the secretion of male hormones, stimulate sebum secretion and excessive keratinization of the epidermis, thereby causing acne and worsening it.

Is anti-sugar useful for the skin?

Although the impact of glycation on skin aging is not as great as that of ultraviolet rays, and it is impossible for us to eliminate glycation or completely stop eating sugar, it is still feasible to reduce the damage of glycation to the skin by controlling sugar. So how to control sugar?

The first step in controlling sugar intake is professionally called: controlling the intake of free sugars. Free sugars are small molecule sugars in a "free" state, such as the white sugar added when cooking or baking bread, or the sugar in freshly squeezed juice. The dietary guidelines released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 mentioned that daily intake of free sugars should be controlled below 10% of total energy intake, and preferably below 5%. This amount can be said to be very small. An adult consumes less than 25g per day, while a bottle of Coke contains more than 10g of free sugar. If you have the habit of drinking beverages and eating snacks, you can easily exceed the limit.

In addition, there is the daily intake of sugar, which is the carbohydrates such as fruits, rice and noodles we eat. The various sugars (carbohydrates) you eat must first undergo digestion and absorption and preliminary metabolism in the human body to be converted into free glucose in the blood, which is blood sugar. Physiological processes such as gaining weight, getting acne, and aging all obtain sugar from the blood; the higher the blood sugar concentration, the more active the corresponding biochemical reactions. So the saying “being fat ruins everything” is not without scientific basis.

In short, eating too much sugar is not good for you. It will make you gain weight, get acne and age. The first step to controlling sugar is to quit sugar addiction and refuse sweets and drinks. There are two numbers you can refer to for your daily diet: glycemic index and glycemic load. In general, it is enough to just look at the glycemic index. Foods with a low glycemic index, such as whole grains, meat, and vegetables, must be fine. You can also be a little lazy when cooking and reduce operations such as mashing and juicing. For some foods with a high glycemic index, especially fruits, it may not be accurate to only look at the glycemic index. You can further look at its glycemic load. If the glycemic load is lower than 10, it is completely OK.

What does anti-glycation mean?

Anti-glycation refers to excessive sugar in the body. Sugar brings adverse effects to the body, accelerates aging, makes the skin dull, and increases the risk of obesity and disease. People consume carbohydrates through eating, and the carbohydrates are converted into sugar, part of which is broken down into fructose and transported to cells to provide energy for the body. The more sugar, the better. Too much sugar cannot be absorbed by the human body and causes a series of problems. The common anti-glycation method is to control the intake of carbohydrates to keep the sugar level in the body balanced. At the same time, you can eat some cucumbers, broccoli, grapes, tomatoes, salmon and other foods for anti-glycation treatment.

What happens when you resist sugar?

Anti-sugar is also called anti-glycation. This term is a new term that has just emerged in recent years. Anti-glycation, as the name suggests, means to fight against the glycation reaction in the body.

The rice, steamed buns, cakes, etc. that we eat in daily life will be broken down into glucose to provide energy to the body after entering the human body. However, when there is too much sugar in the body, the sugar that is not consumed will combine with protein to produce a glycation reaction, causing the protein to lose its normal structure and color, and become brittle and yellow.

There is a lot of collagen in the dermis of the skin, which is also a protein. If the collagen undergoes glycation, irreversible changes will occur, and elasticity will decrease, leading to skin aging. Therefore, the concept of anti-glycation is actually to use various methods to fight against glycation reactions and delay skin aging.